A Tale of Two Forces: Typhoon Bebinca’s Disruption during Shanghai’s Mid-Autumn Festival

Courtesy of Pangalau, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Just one day after the start of the Mid-Autumn Festival, which celebrates the fall season and focuses on friends, family, and community, China’s largest financial district sustained its most violent typhoon since 1949 on the morning of September 16 2024. Shanghai, the “Paris of the East and the New York of the West,” was brought to its heels when Typhoon Bebinca raged through the urban jungle at wind speeds of up to 94 mph, forcing an emergency evacuation of over 414,000 people leading up to the tropical storm. 

Relentless rainfall, sporadic flooding, damaged infrastructure, and over 10,000 uprooted trees damaged various parts of the city. High wind speeds tore up skyscrapers, flinging anything from tree branches to cars. Over 30,000 homes lost electricity, with many residents still inside. In one viral clip posted on @shanghaidaily on X, cars and buses could be seen driving through a flooded road with billboards collapsing dangerously close by. In another clip captured by The Weather Channel, semi trailers were being rocked back and forth on a bridge from the winds, with some even collapsing completely on their side.

But not all was lost for Shanghai in the aftermath, as the city took swift action to mitigate the severity of Typhoon Bebinca.

A red typhoon warning, the highest level of emergency response, was activated immediately on the day of its landing, triggering other safety measures. Over 414,000 people had already evacuated leading up to the typhoon’s landing in Shanghai due to the storm projections announced on September 10 by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) as it was developing over the Philippine Sea. Meteorological predictive technologies detected the incoming hurricane at least four days before its initial landing in Shanghai, giving citizens and tourists ample time to plan their evacuation.

On the day of the typhoon, transportation in and out of the city was stopped entirely, as over 1,000 flights were canceled, and all buses, ferries and railway stations were shut down. Ship vessels were recalled to port, and local authorities ordered all citizens to either stay indoors or evacuate the city entirely. All Mid-Autumn festival celebrations were cancelled for the time being. As for tourist destination, they were briefly paused, such as Shanghai’s Disneyland, Shanghai Wild Animal Park, and Jinjiang Amusement Park. 

The intensity of Typhoon Bebinca was equally matched by the city workers who reorganized and repaired the city afterward. Within a few hours after the typhoon ended, an estimated 60,000 emergency responders and firefighters were deployed to clean up the fallout. Many were spotted sporting orange and neon green jumpsuits scattered throughout Shanghai, clearing fallen branches, metal debris, and blocked paths, allowing citizens and tourists to access the city again. Photos and videos surfaced on social media sites, like Reddit and YouTube, thanking city workers for taking initiative so quickly. 

As the typhoon moved westward, it eventually weakened, but drenched the nearby provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. Beijing authorities have declared an emergency allocation of 310 million yuan, approximately $44 million USD, to these provinces as well as to the provinces of Guangxi and Hainan in support of disaster relief caused by Typhoons Yagi, Bebinca, and Pulasan in September 2024. However, Shanghai was not a recipient of Beijing’s aid because the city has the most access to natural disaster relief and rescue resources compared to the others.  These funds are planned to fix the damages done, concentrating their efforts on search and rescue and repairing homes and infrastructure.

As the city of Shanghai works to restore itself, Typhoon Bebinca serves as a reminder that even in a city where technological advancements and financial wealth exist in abundance, nature remains a humbling force. The unpredictability of weather, especially with the increasingly harsh effects of climate change on cities, cannot be escaped. However, the one thing that can be fully controlled is the attitude that state and local actors carry in addressing the damages done to the city afterward. It was made clear that in the wake of the storm, the community prevailed as the Shanghainese people and its essential recovery workers collaborated to restore the city to what it was. While the city comes back to life to enjoy the festivities together, they can enjoy it knowing that these traditions and values hold true, rain or shine.